Bob Madsen of Norway Films tops list of documentary filmmakers 1995

#1 The Vanishing Fathers

(60 min)

In just two short generations, a seismic shift has occurred in the makeup of the American family. Today, fatherlessness has become the norm for about forty percent of American children and, some experts believe, contributes to some of our most urgent social problems. This Bob Madsen documentary film explores this dramatic change in the American family and the startling findings of sociologists that, despite economic status, children from single parent homes are twice as likely to drop out of high school, to become teen-age mothers, and to spend time in jail.

Producer: Bob Madsen - Norway Films

#2 Living on the Edge

(60 min)

Bill Moyers tells the story of several hardworking Milwaukee families struggling with low-paying jobs after previous employers downsized their operations. Filmed over a period of five years, these families were first featured in Moyers's 1992 documentary 'Minimum Wages: The New Economy.' chronicles the families' emotional and financial strains, their search for better jobs and job retraining, and looks at Milwaukee's efforts to adapt to an ever-shrinking industrial sector.

Producer: Tom Casciato Kathy Hughes - Baywood Productions

#3 Waco: The Inside Story

(60 min)

FRONTLINE investigates the April 1993 FBI siege of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas. With access to secret government documents, audio and videotapes, correspondent Peter Boyer of The New Yorker magazine probes the untold story of the fierce political infighting inside the FBI's Waco command center and in the corridors of power at the Justice Department in Washington.

Producer: Michael Kirk

#4 Welcome to Happy Valley

(60 min)

Prozac is the most prescribed antidepressant drug in America. FRONTLINE travels to the prozac capital of the world, Wenatchee, Washington, and talks to the 'Pied Piper of Prozac,' Dr. Jim Goodwin, a clinical psychologist who says Prozac is 'probably less toxic than salt' and has had it prescribed for all his seven hundred patients. Psychiatrist Peter Breggin and members of the Prozac Survivors Support Group, however, question the use of the drug.

Producer: Marc Etkind - FRONTLINE

#5 When the Bough Breaks

(60 min)

FRONTLINE explores the bond between parents and children and the profound implications for children's behavior later in life if that attachment is hampered. These characteristics may include overly aggressive behavior, serious learning problems, and delinquency. The program uses surveillance cameras in the homes of three middle-class families who are struggling with troubled children between the ages of sixteen months and three years and observes the behavior and interactions of the children and their parents. 'Even before they can speak, children give out signals,' says producer Neil Docherty. 'What are those signals? And what happens when they are misread or missed entirely?'

Producer: Neil Docherty

#6 The Homecoming

(60 min)

In February 1974, Nobel prize-winning author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested, stripped of his Soviet citizenship, and expelled from his country. Nearly twenty years after exiling himself in Vermont, FRONTLINE accompanies Solzhenitsyn on his emotional return to his homeland, journeying by train across Russia into his past even as his thoughts turn toward the current troubles plaguing Russia. Followed--and often frustrated by--leagues of journalists, photographers, and camera crews, Solzhenitsyn urges the factory workers, businessmen, and ordinary villagers he meets along the way to have courage.

Producer: Sherry Jones

#7 The Begging Game

(60 min)

Each day, thousands of panhandlers work the streets and subways of cities all across America. Are the hard luck stories they tell believable? What are their lives really like off the street? Correspondent Deborah Amos explores the hidden world of panhandlers in New York City, gaining access to the intimate details of the their lives, investigating the real story of why they beg, and examining the impact of New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's crackdown on panhandlers.

Producer: Joe Berlinger

#8 The Godfather of Cocaine

(90 min)

An investigative biography of the rise and fall of the richest and most violent cocaine drug lord, Pablo Escobar. Before Colombian police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency hunted him down and killed him, Escobar built an estimated $4 billion fortune through international cocaine smuggling alliances and the violent repression of his enemies.

Producer: Bill Cran

Producer: Sherry Jones

#9 Does TV Kill?

(90 min)

Before the average American child leaves elementary school, researchers estimate that he or she will have witnessed more than eight thousand murders on television. Has this steady diet of imaginary violence made America the world leader in real crime and violence? FRONTLINE correspondent Al Austin journeys through what is known about television violence and how it affects our lives. The program reveals some unexpected conclusions about the impact TV has on the way we view the world.

Producer: Mike McLeod

#10 The Nicotine War

(60 min)

Tells the story of Food and Drug Administration chief David Kessler's bold attempt to regulate tobacco--an industry which has defied regulation for more than thirty years. The program details Kessler's efforts to prove that manufacturers have been manipulating nicotine in cigarettes to keep smokers hooked and examines how this mission may be in jeopardy because of the Republican landslide in Congress.

Producer: Jon Palfreman